All posts in category News

Because it’s usually a month or two between major updates (and when they do finally appear they tend to be… a little long) I’ve started providing daily progress updates via the official Conifer Games Twitter. In case Twitter isn’t your cup of tea I’ve added the feed to the AtG website and also post everything to our Facebook and Google+ pages.

The daily updates offer a new way to stay plugged into all things AtG, but we’ll still be posting beefier updates for those who prefer reading consolidated, high-level summaries. Speaking of which, one should be up in a couple weeks covering what we’ve been up to since posting the ‘Let’s Play’ video. ‘Til then!

A few months ago I founded Conifer Games, a small development studio dedicated to building ‘meaty’ games like strategy and hardcore RPGs. Our first project is At the Gates, a 4X turn-based strategy game which takes place during the fall of the Roman Empire. Players take the reigns of a fledgling barbarian tribe trying to forge a place for itself within the new order.

Our team has been working on At the Gates for a while now, and we feel it’s finally time to start showing it off. We already have a fully-playable prototype completed, but the game still has a long way to go.

The development of At the Gates is being entirely funded through Kickstarter, so please consider contributing if this is a project you’d be interested in. The game is jam-packed with what I believe are very, very cool ideas, and I truly believe it will open up a new chapter on the 4X genre.

There’s already a ton of info about the game over on our Kickstarter page and our official website, but we’ll be adding even more to that in the coming weeks. Folks, you might want to change your homepage, as I’ll be posting a new article describing a major aspect of the game or its development every couple days for the next month!

It’s going to be a wild ride, guys. I hope you join me and see where it goes!

Wherein, we will be delving into all sorts of interesting issues related to game design and the business as a whole. In the first episode, now available through iTunes, we discuss what we’ll be doing with the show and our particular interests as gamers and designers.

The second episode will be posted early next week, and in that one Dirk and I will be talking with former-Hasbro, now independent tabletop designer Rob Daviau about what it’s like to strike off on your own, the process for creating Risk: Legacy and other fun game design topics.

XCOM isn’t a perfect game, but I really, really like it. Give the podcast a listen if you want to hear more. Additionally, in honor of XCOM I’ll also be putting up an article next week on consequences, so look forward to that!

I’ve been playing and designing strategy games for some time now. In some ways this hobby has grown to the point where I’m frequently unable to enjoy a strategy game just for fun – alas, it seems that turning off ‘designer vision’ can be pretty tough (especially when bad user interface is involved).

However, one advantage this affliction brings is a more critical eye. Over the years I’ve collected some thoughts on what plays a role in a strategy game being good or bad. I recently decided to start this site in hopes of sharing what I’ve learned with other designers and gamers, and also to learn along the way myself. So without further ado, let’s begin this wild journey!